This isn’t new. Journalists coming into the US in the aughts would be harassed by CBT and DHS, forced to open and unlock their laptops (and then delete whatever the officers found unsavory.
So they’d come in with their computers fully encrypted and wouldn’t have the pass key, themselves, so it was impossible to unlock them. If they were detained unreasonably, that became a new story the next morning.
Once through customs, correspondents would call their office and get the key.
But it sucks if you don’t have a whole news agency to back your rights.
Interesting. Could they hold the device, though, until it’s unlocked? I think this might be the Bad Press exception, not a legal right that would work for anyone else. Because if I gave the encryption key to a friend, they would just tell me to call the friend and get it… and if they refused to give it to me, it would because I instructed them not to…
This isn’t new. Journalists coming into the US in the aughts would be harassed by CBT and DHS, forced to open and unlock their laptops (and then delete whatever the officers found unsavory.
So they’d come in with their computers fully encrypted and wouldn’t have the pass key, themselves, so it was impossible to unlock them. If they were detained unreasonably, that became a new story the next morning.
Once through customs, correspondents would call their office and get the key.
But it sucks if you don’t have a whole news agency to back your rights.
Interesting. Could they hold the device, though, until it’s unlocked? I think this might be the Bad Press exception, not a legal right that would work for anyone else. Because if I gave the encryption key to a friend, they would just tell me to call the friend and get it… and if they refused to give it to me, it would because I instructed them not to…
No, they would just refuse you entry to the country.
Yes, if you’re not a citizen they can do that. If you are a citizen, they can not deny you entry.
But they can detain you at the border
Yeah, and in a very cold room and for a very long time. But legally they have to let you in at some point.